


the vanishing act

by angsty_beaches



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Ahsoka is bi, Broken Bones, Character Death, Except Tup, Multi, Pain, Sick Character, The clones are bug brothers and just want their sister to be okay, The jedi make it hard, Trauma, ahsoka is baby, ahsoka is badass baby who plays with knives and fire, because I said so, even though Anakin and Obi-Wan taught her not to, he is little brother who helps, i make Ahsoka go through a lot of pain and call it a story, the clones just want to care for their stupud jedi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:08:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29095515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angsty_beaches/pseuds/angsty_beaches
Summary: They found her surrounded by dead bodies, cradling the dead form of a girl with broken bones. They found her after months of searching with new eyes- a pale blue rather than their original vibrant blue. They found her with no clue of what happened to her. Only she and the Force knew.TW: Graphic Depictions Violence!
Relationships: Ahsoka Tano & Clone Troopers, Ahsoka Tano & Original Character(s), Ahsoka Tano/Original Character(s), Ahsoka Tano/Original Female Character(s), Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, CC-2224 | Cody & Ahsoka Tano, CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 9
Kudos: 51





	1. how they found her

The look on General Skywalker’s face as he paced was murderous, and General Kenobi didn’t bother with chastising him as he stared blankly- almost horrified- at the dark holo-table. Rex and Cody shared a look before saluting.  
“Sirs,” they said simultaneously. At Kenobi’s nod and “at ease”, they relaxed to parade rest.  
“Captain, Commander. We have a mission unsanctioned by the GAR and Jedi Council.” The clones were used to going on unsanctioned missions with their Jedi, but something on their faces told them this would be heavier, more complex and personal.  
“Aren’t all our missions unsanctioned,” Rex tried bringing levity to the situation. Whatever the mission, he was confident they could handle it.  
“Yes, I suppose so. This time, however, we were given direct orders not to engage. Unfortunately for them, we will be doing so.”  
“What is the mission, sir?” At Cody’s question, Skywalker finally looked up from his pacing, his fist clenching.  
“We’re going after Ahsoka.” And suddenly, all the air was knocked from Rex’s lungs. The vod’ika and commander of the 501st had been missing for _months _. Unlike Skywalker, Rex had stayed calm and not worried as much- he knew she could handle herself. But as the months dragged by, there was not a trace of her in the galaxy- not hide nor hair (although she didn’t have any hair to begin with, so Rex didn’t count that for anything)- and the Council had pronounced her dead. All of her brothers had grieved and mourned for her.  
“Sirs?” Confusion colored his voice.  
“We got a distress signal from a secret comm signal that only Ahsoka, Anakin, and I know. I did not send it, and neither did Anakin, leaving Ahsoka. She sent us co-ordinates, and that is where we are going. The Council is in the belief that the sender is not Ahsoka, and that she is still dead. They explicitly told us not to go after it.”  
“We’re not leaving her again,” SKywalker growled. Rex found himself nodding in agreement, and Cody shifted beside him. As aloof as the marshall commander could pretend to be, he and the little togruta had a special friendship. Any clone to ever meet her did, even Wolffe had developed a soft-spot for her. “Rex.” Rex snapped back to attention. “Get your best troopers ready. We leave at oh-eight-hundred.” Rex nodded before leaving. As soon as the doors slid shut behind him, his breathing failed him, and he very nearly collapsed. They knew where she was- they knew where his little sister was. He quickly walked to the mess hall, knowing exactly who he wanted on the team. When he stepped in, he found them immediately, their loud yelling and laughing giving them away. Even though they were still overly-obnoxious, they were more subdued since Ahsoka had been assumed dead. Fives noticed him first, and waved, calling him over. The blonde captain nodded, making quick eye contact before grabbing a cup of caf first. Fives had been hit hard, and he walked around with fractured eyes. He sat by Jesse, who was regaling a story about his exaggerated heroics to a bunch of shinies. Kix occasionally jumped in to correct him and add his own point of view. Coric, ever the most perceptive, narrowed his eyes at Rex.  
“What brings the good captain’s nose out of his ‘pads.”  
“Another unsanctioned mission.” He took a sip of caf as Jesse sent the shinies away to annoy another brother. The brothers he wanted on his team sat around him now. Fives, Echo, Kix, Coric, Jesse, and Hardcase. Hardcase had dropped a pound or two, now that he had no-one else to challenge to food competitions. Rex’s heart ached as a new resolve seared through him- they would get her back, no matter what.  
“Generals Skywalker and Kenobi received a distress signal.” Coric raised his brows. “From Commander Tano.” His end of the table froze, and Fives’ eyes widened.  
“What?”  
“The generals received a distress signal that they believe is from Ahsoka.”  
“How? She- she’s _dead _!” Echo had only just come to terms with her “death”, and now he had to deal with the prospect that the notion was wrong.  
“That’s what the Jedi Council says too.”  
“Of course she’s alive,” Fives snapped- he still hadn’t come to terms with her supposed death. Rex pinched the bridge of his nose before looking around. Other troopers and nat-borns getting a bite to eat stared at them. He stood up.  
“My office.” He led the group through the empty halls that echoed ominously with ghosts of her laughter. They were going to get her back. He knew that. So why was he desperate to reassure himself? The group walked into his office, datapads stacked precariously in every corner, maps of the stars spread on the walls. As soon as they had all crammed into the little office, Kix found he couldn’t hold his tongue any longer.  
“Sir? We are going to get her, right?”  
“Yes, of course, Kix. Unfortunately, the council has not approved of this mission, so we are going in alone. We don’t know her mental or physical state right now, so I presume we must be cautious. We leave,” Rex checked his wrist-chrono, and his eyebrows lifted in surprise. “-now. We leave now. Come on boys.” The team made their way to the hangar, each man with a different expression in his walk and plastered on his face.  
Rex held himself as usual- the perfect picture of calm and collected- but that did nothing for the dark storm inside of him, threatening to break him down. He would not break down, he could not allow himself that, so he shoved it into a corner of his mind, ignoring all of the memories of Ahsoka.  
Echo had a frown etched on his face, his eyes holding a fear of the unknown. He relied on fact, but he did not know what was true anymore. Fives was tense, fists balled, and a fire in his eyes. He was known to be protective, he was known to go too far once someone he loved was threatened. Fives was the Anakin of clones. Kix was worried- ever the mother hen. He could not get the image of a scared and broken togruta out of his mind, could not get the image of them being too late away fast enough. Coric was trained to imagine the worst possible scenario, but, unlike Kix, he was unable to think of her still body, so instead he focused on her medical records. Her height, her weight, her coloration. He focused on how she behaved- her snippiness, and how she would sneak out of the med-bay for herself, but back in for a scared shiny. Jesse felt blank. He didn’t know how to react- how could he? She was dead, just like most of his brothers, and he was fully prepared to accept that. Hardcase hoped. He hoped and he hoped and he hoped that they would find her in good health. She was the luckiest of the lucky- the riye.  
They met General Kenobi and Commander Cody in the hangar, before boarding the _Twilight _and finding Skywalker on board, running through the pre-flight checks.  
“Where are we going sirs.”  
“Orellon II. This is just an extraction. We get her out of there and leave, that’s all.”  
“Then why the large team?”  
“She never said if she was alone.”  
_Stars above, did Rex hope she was. _  
~~~~~~~  
Hours and galaxies later, they found her. In a crumbling castle of centuries ago. She wasn’t alone. Gods did Rex and every other man there wish she was. The great hall of the castle was strewn with bodies, blood coating the once-beautiful marble. She was cowering in a corner, her white dress red with blood. Kix couldn’t tell if it was hers, but he couldn’t get closer without determining her mental stability. She was bent over a girl, her shoulders quivering as nearly silent whispers of ‘ _please _’ escaped her. The girl’s body was twisted unnaturally, with burns and abrasions covering her wrists and ankles. Her patella was smashed, and her splintered femurs stabbing through her flesh. Their hearts broke, but there was nothing they could do- they could all tell she was dead.__________

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Skywalker approached her first, slowly, testing the force. His eyes roamed her, checking for visible injuries. He was thankful there was only one.  
“Snips? Ahsoka?” Ahsoka looked up at him with watering eyes of pale blue, but Anakin could see the emotions toiling around._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“She’s dead.” Her voice was scratchy and dull. When was the last time she had spoken? Obi-Wan felt his heart in his throat. She was too young to see that. But how could he judge what she was too young to see? He did not know what she went through in the months since her disappearance. She was too young for it all, he supposes. He tested her signature through the force, and found a blankness. There was no force surrounding her, yet he could still feel their tiny and fragile training bond. What did that mean?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______________“It’s okay, Snips, it’s okay. We’re going to get you out of here. Kix?”  
“Coming, sir.” The junior medic approached the crouched figures of the generals, and the frailness that was Ahsoka. The last thing the togruta remembers seeing before being knocked out with the hypo was her family. And Gods above, did she wish that was the last thing she ever saw. She just wanted to go home,  
_Home. _____ _ _ _


	2. how it all began

Days had passed by the time Ahsoka had come around. She woke to monitors surrounding her, and she had to fight the tsunami of an urge to rip out the I.V.s. Something beeps, and alerts someone in another room of her wakefulness. A man walks in, dressed in blacks that cover his arms and his legs. It takes her a few moments of squinting to recognize him as Kix, and an onslaught of memories surge through her worn mind. She notices with a pang of deep melancholy that her white dress is gone, replaced by a simple med-gown.  
“Hey, Commander.” His voice is gentle, familiar. She refrains from answering, glancing at him warily from the corner of her eyes- he is familiar, yes, but if there is one thing she learned, it is that nothing is to be trusted. Her door mutedly opens again, and two more men walk in. One looks identical to the first, except with blonde hair rather than buzzed and tattooed. The second man she recognizes instantly as Anakin Skywalker, and, despite Lessons One through Three, she immediately relaxes.  
“Hey Snips,” his voice is smooth.  
“Hi, Master,” hers is not. Her voice is scratchy with weeks of unused use, and the sound grates against her montrals. The other man, who she now identifies as Rex, steps forward, opening and closing his mouth.   
“Ahsoka?” He decides on speaking. “What happened to you?” She presses her lips into a thin line.   
“You don’t have to tell us everything now-” Anakin quickly interjects, sensing her uneasement. “-but soon the Council-” He is interrupted.  
“The Council is full of hypocrites who I no longer answer to.” Her voice was deadly calm, not a waver of hesitation to be noted.  
“What?”  
“Rule Number Six.” As if that explained everything. Kix decided to step back in.  
“And Commander, what is Rule Number Six?” She turned to him with a burning intensity in her eyes, a cold winter’s fire.   
“Only the wise man acknowledges that he knows nothing, of course.” With that, her heart monitor starts to scream it’s alarms, as her line went up and down without pattern. Her body began to seize, her muscle convulsing and contracting involuntarily.  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
“Commander! On your six!” Rex rolled off his shoulder and destroyed the droids that thought they could sneak up on his Commander unsuspecting with two well-aimed shots.   
“Thanks, Rexster!”  
“Anytime, sir.”  
The 501st was back on Geonosis for another campaign, and Ahsoka was getting thoroughly tired of the sandy and dry climate. They were here every other rotation. This time, the Separatists had reopened the droid factory, but instead of manufacturing droids, they began experimenting on bioweapons, looking to create living things they could control. She shook her head free of thoughts as she noticed a tank approaching her squadron.   
“Fives! Give me a boost!” As soon as she called his name, he quickly holstered his deeces as Echo rolled to cover him, and he laced his fingers together, prepared to launch her. She was once again amazed at how her team moved in tandem, harmonizing with each other. Her lightsabers hummed along as she swung at the droids manning the tank. It was an older model, so it's conductors were exposed. She grinned as another idea struck her. “Echo! Come here.” The clone in question ran over to her. “How fast until you learn how to use it?”  
“Judging by the make and model? Not long, sir.”  
“Good, get right on it.” With her parting words, she left him with the weapon and leaped back into the fray. True to his word, not long after she left him, she could hear the tell-tale explosions of canon-blasts, and the droids screaming. She and Fives shared a smirk before she force-pushed a squad of the mindless beings back into each other. Her comm blinked insistently, drawing her attention. She signed to her men and pulled herself acrobatically over a rock with one hand, crouching behind it. Her squad circled protectively around her as she answered.  
“Tano.”  
“Ahsoka, great. We’re almost done with the frontal assault, no barricades. Where are you?”  
“By the cliffside you told me not to worry about.”  
“Oh.”  
“What? No ‘I’m sorry, I will listen to my omniscient padawan next time’?”  
“Not quite. I’ve got eighty-seven droids.”  
“Eighty-five. Wait-” she deflected a stray plasma bolt into the chest of an advancing droid. “-make that eighty-six.”  
“I’m still beating you.”  
“Not for long, Master. There are about three squadrons of droids left, then we have to scale the wall. See you in a few ticks. Tano, out.” She hung up the comm before addressing her men again. “Rex, Fives, cover me.” With the two soldiers covering her from both of her sixes, she closed her eyes, focusing intently on the force. Her lightsabers left her outstretched hands and followed the pulls of air sent by their master, impaling droids as it went. Jesse let out a whistle of appreciation and Ahsoka found herself baring her fangs in a smirk.  
Within moments, the remaining squads of droids had been taken down, and the only remaining task was how to scale the wall without any climbing equipment. Ahsoka studied the cliff-face with the Force, while Fives and Echo studied it with their binoculars. Rex supervised their shoulders.  
“Sir, look.” Ahsoka pulled herself out of her conscientiousness to look where Echo was pointing. A rock cropping stuck out of the mountainside, but she could also see an opening.  
“Alright, boys, let’s move! It’s still a bit of a climb, but it’s better than the whole wall. And it’ll protect us from the oncoming sandstorm.” She pointed to the hazy blur of the wind kicking up sand on the horizon.   
“I’ll say. You heard her, men, let’s get moving!” They began their trek to the rocky outface. Once they reached the mouth, the men flipped on their helmet lights and night vision, and Ahsoka allowed her primal instincts to take over, letting them along with the Force guide her. She held up a fist when a cold shiver shook her spine, halting the men behind her.  
“Sir?” Fives stood a foot behind her, already becoming as hyper aware of his surroundings as she was. She could feel something move in behind her.  
“Fives, Echo, take the lead. Rex, back with me. Everyone be alert.” Fives and Echo nodded, continuing to march forward while Ahsoka and Rex waited for the last man before following.   
“What do you think is out there?”  
“I don’t know, but I certainly don’t want to find out.”  
“I’ll tell you what, Commander, me neither.” Ahsoka opened her mouth to answer, when a heat seared through her veins, a warning for an enemy she could not see.  
“Everyone get down!” A rocket launcher appeared, and a bright spark showed before a blaze could be seen hitting the cave wall.  
“Run, fall back, now!” Ahsoka commanded, using her ‘sabers to deflect the incoming plasma bolts. SHe heard the enemy closing in on her and Rex, but she would not endanger him any further. “Rex, go now!”  
“Not without you sir.”  
“That’s an order, trooper. Move, now!” And Rex moved, because she had ordered him to, and that’s all he had been trained to do, even if he hated leaving her. A blur of green and yellow cloaked her as she whirled and deflected, but a stun bolt, of all things, slipped through, momentarily immobilizing her. She never got to see who had bested her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a basic background chapter, kind of like a filler. next chapter is juicy, so stay tuned >:)  
> Like always, leave your opinions and guesses on what happens

**Author's Note:**

> This is completely unedited, so good luck reading! (Any and all mistakes are my own). Leave your thoughts and ideas!! Thank you! Also, idk why, but my italics aren't working? Does anyone else have this problem?


End file.
